Screams. They pierced the air and sent chills down my spine. I looked around to figure out where I was. It was pitch black, but when I glanced up, the sky looked blood-red. The moon was bathed in red as well. The screams were followed by sobs and cries of pain.

I searched the darkness blindly until I heard my shoes squish in something. I paused, my stomach rolling. The darkness suddenly lifted and I found myself standing in a field. As I looked around, I was horrified to find bodies. Bodies everywhere. They were littered across the ground, some still bleeding out, others pale with death. The sudden urge to vomit overtook me and I fell to my hands and knees.

What was going on? Where was I? And why was everyone dead? The screams still echoed across the field, so that meant I wasn't completely alone. But, still. What the heck was going on?

"No!"

My head snapped over to see Joshua's little sister, Ella. She was on her knees as well, her hands covering her face as she screamed to the high heavens. In front of her were three bodies I recognized as her family, including Joshua. Joshua. I wanted to run over to see what happened, but I was frozen in place on my knees. No matter what I tried, I couldn't move. So, I was stuck watching Ella scream and wail endlessly. "No! No!"

"Ella?" I called out, figuring I could at least call out to her.

The girl's head snapped up, her eyes wide in horror. My stomach dropped when I realized that she was crying blood. "Wren. No, no, no, you can't be there. You have to-"

Her voice cut off even though she was still speaking. "Ella?" I called frantically, but she kept talking.

"-not safe--- run!---!"

"What? You're not making any sense," I cried, gasping when a splitting headache shot through my skull.

"Find--- red ---!"

I couldn't focus on what she said anymore as the screams from before became my own. It felt like my entire body was suddenly on fire. I wanted it to stop. Scratching did nothing to satisfy the burning itch that crawled under my skin, but I kept at it until my nails turned red with my blood.

"The red, Wren!"

"Wren."

I was able to lift my head a bit so I could try and see who spoke to me, but all I saw were a pair of shoes. "Wren, you have to --- help---. Please. Run. Run --- it's too late."

"Wren!"

"Wren!"

A raw scream ripped my throat as I shot up in bed. I was suddenly held down by strong arms that I quickly recognized as Joshua's. I didn't even realize how much I was shaking until he started to rock us slowly, shushing me. My breathing became panicked and shallow and Joshua hurried to position me in his lap. "Deep breaths, Wren. Listen to my voice, okay? I'm right here. Deep breaths, baby."

I tried to do what he asked, but all I could focus on was the pain in my arm, my throat, and my head. A quick glance at my arm was enough for me to understand that I'd clawed myself in my sleep and drew blood, but the head pain terrified me. It felt just like how it did in the dream; like a thousand metal needles were jabbing at my skull. For a moment I worried if my previous injury had flared up, but I quickly dismissed the thought. My injury was well on its way to becoming a faint scar. This was different.

My brain scrambled to piece together the dream I just had and once it did, my hand shot out to grab Joshua's arm in a panicked grip. I saw him dead in my dream, surrounded by his parents' corpses. I saw Ella cry over his body and tell me I had to run. I needed to feel that he was alive and right there in front of me.

"Wren, sweetie, can you hear me?" Joshua's soft voice drew me away from my thoughts for a moment. "What happened? You were screaming and thrashing around. I called the packhouse for help."

By the tone of his voice, I'd freaked him out. Heck, I freaked myself out. I shook my head, trying to calm my breathing so I could stop panicking. Instead of dwelling over the dream, I tried to focus on the feel of Joshua's arms wrapped around me. "You were- you were," I tried to start, but it kept getting caught in my throat.

"Deep breaths. Take your time, okay?"

I inhaled deeply, slowing letting it out as I tried to order my thoughts. "In my dream... you were dead."

Joshua stiffened underneath me. I peeked up at him to see his face slightly pinched in concern, which was expected given what I told him. "Go on. What else?"

"You were dead, but so were your parents and a bunch of other people. Your sister was by your body and she was screaming and crying. She told me to run and that something wasn't safe."

"Ella was there?" Joshua asked, and I nodded.

"And someone else talked to me, but I didn't see who. They both said that I had to run, though."

The silence that stretched between us made me feel very cold all of a sudden. I shivered, scooting closer into Joshua's hold and burying my face into his neck. Joshua laid us back so he was on the bed and I was still on top of him. He kept his arms around my waist and just let me sit there quietly.

A knock from downstairs broke the moment after a few minutes. I looked at Joshua for an answer as to why someone was at my door so early in the morning. He sat up again and patted my waist gently. "Alpha James and Dr. Milton are outside most likely. They answered the call when I couldn't wake you up. We need to let them in so you can tell them about your dream."

"Why?" I asked, but I knew why.

I could've seriously hurt myself or Joshua and I wouldn't have known until I woke up. With a nod of my head, I slid off of him and stood up. I realized I was in a pair of my pajamas. Joshua noticed my confusion and said, "I brought you upstairs when I woke up. I figured pajamas would be better than regular clothes and I didn't want to wake you."

I nodded in understanding and made my way down the stairs with Joshua quickly following behind me. I turned on the living room light and opened the front door, surprised when I see Alpha James, Dr. Milton, and a very tired-looking Aaron. Why was Aaron with them? What did he have to do with this situation? I noticed the bags under his eyes and how pale he was; he looked horrible. Thinking about it, why did they all have to be here? I could understand Dr. Milton seeing as he's, well, a doctor, but why Alpha James and Aaron?

"Good morning, Wren. May we come inside? Joshua mentioned over the phone something about a dream you just had?" Alpha James asked.

I opened the door further for them to come inside, and soon enough, we were all seated in the living room. Alpha James sighed, and I could see just how tired he was. There was never a break for the poor man. "Joshua told us that he woke up to you screaming. He tried to wake you up but couldn't, and you started scratching at yourself and drew blood."

"May I see?" Dr. Milton asked, to which I held out my arm for him to examine while Alpha James continued.

"After that, he called us and tried to wake you up again. I'm assuming it worked because he hung up shortly afterward."

"Why do you think I wasn't able to wake him?" Joshua asked, reaching out to grab my free hand since we were seated next to each other.

"Because he didn't want to wake up."

All of our heads turned to look at Aaron, who had a dark look on his face. Joshua squeezed my hand and I glanced at him in concern. What did Aaron even mean by that? Of course, I wanted to wake up! The dream had been horrible. Before I could ask, Joshua beat me to it. "What do you mean by that? He was obviously distressed."

Aaron shook his head. "There really isn't any great way to explain this, but it's true. Wren couldn't wake up because he wasn't ready to. He was in the middle of a dreamscape."

"Dreamscape?" I echoed.

My friend nodded his head slowly. "Yeah. He was pulled into one and couldn't leave until he was ready to."

"T-this doesn't make any sense, Aaron. What is going on?" I said, shaking my head to see if I could rid myself of the confusion I felt.

Dreamscape? Great Goddess, what was going on? By this point, Dr. Milton had stopped examining my arm and sat by silently like Alpha James. They both had grim looks on their faces, but they weren't saying anything. Why were they letting Aaron lead? And why was he saying such crazy nonsense?

"Wren, listen, there's something about you that's different from others and-"

"Well yeah, I know that. No need to remind me of it, Aaron," I couldn't help but snap.

I was getting more and more frustrated with him. Why couldn't he just get to the point and skip all this weird stuff? And what did my disability have anything to do with it all? I had a bad dream, that was it. Even if it was really horrific and worried Joshua, it was still just a dream. "No, Wren, you don't understand. That's not exactly what I'm talking about, but it's part of it."

"Aaron, please, just get to the point," Joshua pleaded, obviously just as anxious as I was.

Aaron sighed, pushing his hair away from his face. "Wren, you're special. Really special. And I am too. We're both different from others, and I think that girl in your dream is too."

"Ella?" Joshua asked, sounding concerned. "Ella isn't special, she's my sister! I've known her all my life."

"Well, she was the one who created the dreamscape and pulled us in," Aaron stated.

The room felt like it dropped a few degrees in temperature. I shivered, scooting closer to Joshua for warmth. "What?" I whispered in shock, not quite believing what was going on.

"She summoned you and probably didn't realize. She was so powerful she pulled me in, too. I have no doubt she pulled others in if she reached us all the way here. It was an accident from what I can tell, but it happened nonetheless."

My brain couldn't wrap around the information thrown at me. Special? Me? And Aaron and Ella were special too? What was special about us? Why did I dream about what I did? The more I tried to come up with a logical conclusion, the more angered I became when I realized there was no logical conclusion. Maybe this was all just a sick joke. "Aaron, I get trying to prank me, but stop. Just stop. You're not making any sense and it's not right that you're bringing Joshua's sister into this."

Aaron tried to explain himself, but Alpha James cut him off. "Aaron isn't joking, Wren. He's quite serious."

"What?"

Alpha James pursed his lips, before saying, "I think we should leave for now. You seem to be in good health aside from the scratches, but those will heal. However, I want you to speak to your parents about this before we overwhelm you."

"My parents?" I echoed, frowning.

What would they know? Alpha James stood up and the other two followed suit. "They will be able to explain better than we can at the moment. After you talk with them, come by so we can restart this conversation."

With that, they walked off, but not before Aaron shot me one last look. The sound of the door shutting barely registered. I was in shock, to say the least.

"Wren."

I looked up at Joshua, not sure what to say. My mouth opened as if to try and communicate what I was feeling, but it quickly shut when nothing came out. Joshua understood and pulled me close, kissing the top of my head. "I'll always be here for you, no matter what. Let's try and get some more sleep and talk to your parents later on."

All I could do was nod as Joshua pulled us off the couch. I didn't even know how I would be able to sleep with everything going on inside my head. But, no matter what I thought about, the same question kept coming up:

What did my parents know?

~~~

I can't tell y'all how excited I am. I've been waiting to show off Aaron and I finally can XD He's my baby <3<3

Anyway, thoughts? Theories? It's about to get wild. If you want a better idea of what's going on, I suggest rereading the prologue. You won't get everything, but you might be able to form some interesting conclusions ;)

But on that note, things are slowly coming full circle. At the pace I'm going, we might be in for another seven chapters or so. Maybe less, maybe more. I don't know. But, Wren and Joshua's story is coming to a close very soon. I hope you guys will stick around for the next book!

Stay tuned for more insanity and please stay healthy and safe!

Thank you so much for reading <3

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